007 Is The Common Agent In This Lunch

June 11, 1987|By Marian Burros, New York Times News Service.

NEW YORK — Vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred), Champagne, Jack Daniel`s--that is the stuff of 007. So it was a fascinating thought that a meal could be built around food from Ian Fleming`s novels about James Bond. Fascinating enough to lure a food writer out to lunch, especially because it was an opportunity to see New York`s redecorated ``21`` Club.

By the time the telephone call came saying that the lunch had been switched to the Jockey Club at the Ritz-Carlton, the menu and appropriate citations from several Bond movies already had arrived. How would chicken and potatoes Gloria from ``On Her Majesty`s Secret Service`` be interpreted?

Would bombe surprise from ``The Man With the Golden Gun`` explode, or would someone looking like Mary Goodnight, played by Britt Ekland in the movie, jump out of the bombe?

With Champagne and vodka martinis flowing as freely as club soda, the lunch to honor Albert Broccoli, the producer of the Bond movies, began auspiciously. Broccoli had just donated prints of the 14 Bond movies he had produced over 25 years to the Museum of Modern Art.

And Saul Cooper, public relations consultant to Broccoli, was quite convincing in his descriptions of Agent 007`s knowledgeable approach to food. ``Part of the James Bond mystique,`` Cooper said, ``is the great sense of sophistication.`` So Cooper went through every Bond book in search of food and drink citations. Before he was through he had accumulated 94 pages of notes.

Fleming has a detailed recipe for scrambled eggs James Bond in one of his travel books, ``Thrilling Cities,`` and the meal might have turned out better if the chefs for the luncheon had had detailed directions for their menu. As it was, their flights of fancy never soared higher than slices of undercooked potatoes and overcooked chicken for chicken with potatoes Gloria, accompanied by a warm white wine. Bombe surprise became baked Alaska.

``The antithesis of anything connected with James Bond,`` one guest said in a huff.

Perhaps ``21`` would have been more inventive. It certainly would have been more appropriate. The restaurant was the setting for a scene in

``Diamonds Are Forever.``

But some of the old waiters, who were not rehired when ``21`` reopened, are picketing the place. Broccoli, who said he had been going to ``21`` for about 50 years, would not cross the picket line.

SCRAMBLED EGGS JAMES BOND

Enough for 4 individualists

12 fresh eggs

Salt, pepper

5 to 6 ounces fresh butter

Chives, chopped, or fines herbes.

1. Break eggs into bowl; beat thoroughly with a fork and season well.

2. In a small copper or heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt 4 ounces butter.

3. Pour in eggs and cook over very low heat, whisking continuously with small egg whisk.

4. While the eggs are still slightly more moist than you would wish for eating, remove pan from heat, add rest of butter and continue whisking for half a minute, while adding the chives or fines herbes.